Car-deer accidents

Car-deer collisions remain a problem on local roads and across the state, and municipal and law-enforcement leaders are urging drivers to be alert.

Ulster County Undersheriff Frank Faluotico said there were 221 car-deer collisions in the county 2013 and there have been 109 so far in 2014.

“It’s definitely not a seasonal type accident; it happens year round,” Faluotico said.

The undersheriff said the car-deer accident rate has risen in recent years because the deer population has grown.

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“We’ve notice consistently more deer accidents over the past couple decades because there’s less and less hunters, so the deer populations are up,” he said.

Faluotico also said changes in vehicle construction have led to more damage from such accidents.

“Hitting a deer does considerable damage to a car now because the cars are built for collisions that have the least amount of impact to the driver,” he said. “So they design these cars to take the brunt of any collision and fold up. So what use to be $100 — fix the headlight and throw some putty on — is now a $3,000 repair to a car.”

In Woodstock, town Supervisor Jeremy Wilber urged caution by drivers while speaking at least week’s Town Board meeting.

“Very often, in fact in almost all the cases that we’re seeing, it’s not because people are violating the speed limit,” he said. “They’re going the speed limit. It’s just that deer have suddenly jumped out on the road and suddenly, there they are.”

He said there usually are two accidents per week in Woodstock involving deer and that his wife struck one recently in neighboring Hurley.

“It was just ‘bang,’” he said. “She was driving 30 to 40 miles an hour on (state Route) 375 and suddenly a deer crashed through her windshield. She was not injured ... but it’s something where even if you are spared personal injury, your car is certainly damaged and it’s just a very traumatizing experience.”

State Department of Environmental Conservation spokeswoman Lori Severino said there were about 80,000 car-deer collisions in New York in the department’s 2011-12 reporting period and about 70,000 in 2012-13.

“Best advice: Drive slower and stay alert at dawn and dusk,” Severino said in an email.